New Spirinia and Stygodesmodora species (Nematoda, Spiriniinae) from the Southwest Pacific, and a revision of the related genera Spirinia, Chromaspirina and Perspiria

Abstract

Abstract. Two new species of the family Desmodoridae are described from the upper continental slope of New Zealand, Southwest Pacific, and the genera Spirinia, Chromaspirina and Perspiria are revised. Spirinia verecunda sp. nov. is characterised by a short, stout body, cuticle covered in minute, hair-like structures, unispiral amphideal aperture and cryptospiral amphideal fovea, buccal cavity with small dorsal tooth and minute subventral teeth, eight oblong glands surrounding anterior portion of pharynx, large sperm cells, spicules with weak capitulum, and the absence of precloacal supplements. Stygodesmodora confusa sp. nov. is characterised by a relatively short body, spiral amphids with 1.2-1.4 turns, cephalic setae situated at or slightly posterior to mid-level of amphid, and males with four precloacal supplements consisting of short setae on wide bases. Like other species of the genus, S. confusa sp. nov. is characterised by an annulated head region, but in some specimens the cuticle annulations are restricted to the dorsal and ventral sides of the head. S. confusa sp. nov. shows similarities with species of other desmodorid genera (i.e., Echinodesmodora, Bolbonema), but can be differentiated from them by the presence of an annulated head region and amphideal plates. The genera Spirinia, Chromaspirina and Perspiria have very similar morphologies and differ mainly in the size and structure of the buccal cavity (Spirinia vs Chromaspirina) or the shape of the tail and placement of the amphids relative to the cuticle annulations (Spirinia vs Perspiria); their diagnoses are clarified and some nomenclatural changes are proposed to eliminate overlap in the definitions of these genera.

Meiofaunal communities and nematode diversity characterizing the Secca delle Fumose shallow vent area (Gulf of Naples, Italy)

“…At inactive sites (CN and CS) the family of Desmodoridae (genera Spirinia, Perspiria and Chromaspirina) was the most represented taxon. Those genera, and in particular different species of Spirinia and Chromaspirina, have been reported from different environments spanning from shallow (Platt, 1977;Nicholas et al, 1991;Ólafsson, 1995;Vafeiadou et al, 2014) to deep-sea (Da Silva et al, 2009;Leduc & Verschelde, 2015) systems and sometimes associated to unstable condition and coarser sediment, as the sediment at our inactive sites from where we detected the highest percentage of gravel. Another group found at inactive sites was that of Stilbonematinae, reported already from shallow (Kamenev et al, 1993;Thiermann, Windoffer & Giere, 1994; and deep-sea vent areas (Vanreusel, Van Den Bossche & Thiermann, 1997;Gollner et al, 2010) and inhabiting zones of volcanic activity or at the periphery of vents.…”

Peer Review #2 of "Meiofaunal communities and nematode diversity characterizing the Secca delle Fumose shallow vent area (Gulf of Naples, Italy) (v0.1)"

“…At inactive sites (CN and CS) the family of Desmodoridae (genera Spirinia, Perspiria and Chromaspirina) was the most represented taxon. Those genera, and in particular different species of Spirinia and Chromaspirina, have been reported from different environments spanning from shallow (Platt, 1977;Nicholas et al, 1991;Olafsson, 1995;Vafeiadou et al, 2014) to deep-sea (Da Silva et al, 2009;Leduc and Verschelde, 2015) systems and sometimes associated to unstable condition and coarser sediment, as the sediment at our inactive sites from where we detected the highest percentage of gravel. Another group found at inactive sites was that of Stilbonematinae, reported already from shallow (Kamenev et al, 1993;Thiermann et al, 1994;Dando et al, 1995) and deep-sea vent areas Gollner et al, 2010) and inhabiting zones of volcanic activity or at the periphery of vents.…”